Blogger Spotlight: Yasmin of Luxury Travel Diary

Behind every great luxury blog, you will find a great story. Luxury bloggers are real people, not machines, and to successfully work with them, we recommend you get to know them a little better. Through our years at LuxeInACity, we have talked, collaborated and exchanged ideas with dozens of great bloggers from around the world.

Since bloggers rarely talk about themselves – they tend to talk about everyone else instead – we hope to showcase their skills, expertise and opinions in this blog series. Get to know them, learn from them and hopefully you will find an innovative way to collaborate with them.

Today’s blogger is Yasmin, a travel addict in love with the finer things that life offers. Her blog, Luxury Travel Diary reflects her devotion to her passions – travel and fashion. Be it a boutique hotel or the latest haute couture collection, you are sure to get a glimpse into the world of luxury, as she perceives it.

Let’s find out her take on the luxe side of life.

Every blogger has a different story on how they got started blogging. What is yours?

I was a regular poster on Flyertalk and TripAdvisor but I felt that TripAdvisor was getting diluted by a lot of unfair posts and pictures of defects within the hotels (hairs in plug holes, rust on radiators etc) rather than focusing in on the overall experience. I wanted to write honestly about the beautiful hotels I have been fortunate enough to stay in, but focusing in on how special and individual each hotel is. I have extensive experience of luxury hotels and products. My husband is a brilliant developer so he made me a beautiful website. Now people read and like what we are doing which is an honor. Every day it gives me great joy to share our wonderful stories with other travelers. I hope it inspires people to take the trips we have done and stay where we have stayed.

What is your take on press releases? Do you like receiving them or do you simply discard them?

This really depends what the press release is. If it is, for example, a high end brand hotel opening or a fun fashion release with beautiful photos, we will certainly consider running it.

What would make you choose to work with a brand on a giveaway campaign on your site?

Holidays always work well and are wonderfully visual so our readers love them. We have no problems setting up a competition as long as the prize is appealing enough.

If a brand wants to reach you, what channel should they use? Do you prefer email, social media or another means of communication?

Email is always the best as we get so many DM messages particularly on twitter that we can occasionally miss them.

What is the coolest gift you have received from a luxury brand in a blogger outreach program?

We do get offered many wonderful hotel nights (usually not in the highest season) and have received wonderful ski equipment and gear as well as some superb jewelry. My current favorite is a piece of luggage kindly sent to me from Dressage Collection. It is truly beautiful!

Of all the social media channels you engage on, which one do you prefer and why?

Twitter, the audience is absolutely lovely and sends me kind messages suggesting places to go and feedback on my articles. I love this kind of interaction and to know that people enjoy reading what I write… well there is nothing better!

Which social media channels does your audience interact with the most?

Twitter is our most interactive channel.

In your opinion, what does it take to become successful on social media?

Hard work, more hard work, more hard work and when you go away to review places you have to remember you are taking your audience there too and must keep up the live tweets so a holiday is never quite a holiday! Suits me though, I’m not a sunbathing kinda gal – I get bored easily!

Do you monitor your Klout score on a daily/weekly basis? Do you think this social ranking is of any real value to luxury brands?

Yes I think Klout score is very important as there are a lot of social media accounts out there, and this is the easiest way to differentiate between the offerings. We currently rank 65 and we are still going up.

What is the main reason you blog on a daily basis? Is it for pleasure, for business or for both?

Both!

Apart from blogging, do you offer additional services to luxury brands that choose to work with you?

I am open to suggestion.

Do you think luxury brands should understand that blogging is also a business for some?

Yes, it is for me- I don’t think you can write a good blog part time, it needs to be a full time occupation and passion. Some brands like to get coverage for free and get upset if it is not offered – Not cool.

What would you say is the best thing about being a luxury blogger?

It is a passion of mine. Luxury Travel in particularly is what I love and by writing my blog I am able to share this with my readers. It makes me truly happy!

If you had to mentor a new blogger, what is your go-to advice to become successful?

Pick a subject that you really truly love, then just do it. I think a lot of blogs are started, and then the writer becomes busy with something else. If you really want to be a blogger you need to give up pretty much everything else and put all your energies into your blog. As always, there is no magic to success, it is unbelievably hard work, but if you love what you do, and I do, it is absolutely worth the hard graft.

Roxanne is the Co-Founder of LuxeInACity and AgenceLuxury. An Avid sailor and traveler she stumbled into luxury in 2005 while working aboard superyachts. Since then she has been a private concierge for UHNWI and has helped several luxury brands with their digital needs.